re: #46 freetoken

Because it upsets their theological cart.

Being Christians, their central belief is in the necessity of Christ’s crucifixion. That was necessary, according to traditional theology, as punishment for man’s original sin, so if man is without sin then there would not have been a need for the crucifixion.

Man has sinned == a particular act by a specific person, Adam, in disobeying God. If the evolutionists are correct, then there was no Adam, and thus there never would have been an original sin, nullifying the need for the crucifixion.

It seems to never occur to the literal creationists that “Adam” could be a literary device for all of humanity (or if you want to be gender specific, all men.)

So the root of the issue is how they approach the Bible.

Interesting point freetoken. I really believe the church will/has to rethink their interpretation of the first chapter of the Bible and I really believe they will. Perhaps it wasn’t as literal as they thought it was. Like you said, “‘Adam’ could be a literary device for all of humanity”. A humanity with a sinful nature in dire need of a Savior, hence the crucifixion. Or he could be a person who actually existed, only part of the evolutionary process.

This is where science and evolution, the very thing that many Evangelicals curse, could actually be a wonderful for Christianity! Wasn’t it Galileo who theorized that the earth revolved around the sun and didn’t the Vatican want to execute him for that? Well, I don’t think there are many credible Christians today who believe the sun revolves around the earth.

Many stories and parables written in the Bible, I believe, were written and inspired for simple minds to understand. Especially when we’re talking about cultures thousands and thousands of years ago. The idea of a spherical earth going around the sun would have completely thrown them off causing them to miss the whole point of the story! Unfortunately, there are many staunch Christians today who can be very close minded toward recent scientific discoveries. So it may take a hundred years or so for Evangelicals to come around to the concept of evolution but as a Christian myself, I believe that God will lead them down that path.

Just my take on the matter.